![Freshman Milan Earl and sophomore Lucy Kaplan sit with their grandparents at Archer’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Friday, March 15. The event took place over three 75-minute sessions. “[I hope my grandparents] gain an understanding about what I do, Kaplan said, because I know they ask a lot of questions and can sort of see what I do in school and what the experience is like to be here.](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/grandparents-day-option-2-1200x800.jpg)
Bye, bye Brady: Eagles soar past Patriots for their first Super Bowl title
Confetti falls on the US Bank stadium field after the Eagles won the 2018 Super Bowl. The enclosed stadium opened in 2016 and is home to the Minnesota Vikings. Photo courtesy of Brianna Coughlan.
For the first time in franchise history, the Philadelphia Eagles won a Vince Lombardi trophy for the City of Brotherly Love.
On Feb. 4, the underdogs defeated the New England Patriots 41-33. They denied Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick their sixth championship title and ring.
The Eagles, led by backup quarterback and Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles, finished the season with an overall 16-3 record. The Patriots finished 15-4.
According to a tweet from Brian McCarthy of the NFL public relations team, 67,612 fans were in attendance during Sunday’s game at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN.
Two of those fans included math teacher Brianna Coughlan and her husband Tom Coughlan.
Coughlan went to college 30 minutes away from Philadelphia, and she lived in northern Delaware for nine years.
“My husband is a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan, so I was converted even though I didn’t grow up in that area,” Coughlan said.
The couple attended because one of Coughlan’s family members works for the National Hockey League and was eligible to buy two Super Bowl tickets at face value.
“You might have seen that tickets were going for thousands of dollars. I won’t tell you how much I paid, but I did not pay that much,” Coughlan said with a laugh.
Because they purchased tickets at a lower price and were able to stay with family members in Minnesota, they decided it was “a once in a lifetime thing.”
P!nk opened the show with the National Anthem, and Justin Timberlake performed at halftime. Coughlan found Timberlake’s performance to be underwhelming in person.
“We sat all the way up top, so we weren’t really close to the stage. Justin Timberlake was also not facing us, so it was hard to get into it,” she said. “It was also hard to hear him. He switched in between so many songs that it was kind of hard to keep up.”
Parts of his performance required audience interaction. Fans sitting higher up in the stadium were given finger lights and instructions were displayed on the Jumbotron.
“When the Prince hologram showed up, our fingers all lit up purple,” Coughlan said.
Despite being disappointed by the halftime show, she was “impressed” by how the security team ran the whole event.
“It was just so smooth. They got everyone out of there really quickly,” she said. “We did not wait for a train at all. We really did not stand outside for long at all, which was so fortunate because the feels-like temperature was negative 24 degrees, I think. So it was cold.”
Overall, Coughlan said the event was really fun and she is happy they went since it was “exciting” to be around so many Eagles fans.
“The Patriots have been to the Super Bowl so many times that I don’t think their fans were as inclined to attend,” she said. “But because the Eagles have only been once or twice before this, there were so many Eagles fans. It was so awesome to see all of the comradery and team spirit.”
Cat Oriel joined the Oracle staff as a contributing writer in 2015, was promoted to Voices Editor in 2017 and is now the News and Features Editor. She...
